[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 183 (Thursday, November 9, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S7148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Veterans Day

  Mr. President, I will now turn to a completely different subject, and 
that is the subject of Veterans Day.
  I rise to honor and thank our veterans, servicemembers, and their 
families as we celebrate our veterans on Veterans Day. These brave men 
and women represent the best among us. Whether you served 50 years ago 
or still wear the uniform today, we thank our veterans for their 
service and sacrifice on behalf of this great Nation.
  No matter when they served, all veterans have one thing in common: a 
deep love of our country and a patriotism that goes beyond simply 
feeling pride. All veterans were willing to lay down their lives in 
defense of this Nation, and many continue to live the spirit of service 
in their communities once their time in the military is over.
  Last week, I attended the change of command ceremony, where we 
honored outgoing MG Richard Nash for his decades of service and saw him 
pass the leadership torch to MG Jon Jensen, who was sworn in as the new 
adjutant general of Minnesota's National Guard.
  As General Nash said earlier this year, ``Our Minnesota National 
Guard and the entire state has contributed greatly in a period of 
history that will be looked back upon as a remarkably important time.''
  He continued: ``We were always ready, always there.''
  He was right. Our servicemembers are always there for us, and, in 
turn, we must honor their service.
  At a time marked by the volatility of our politics, our commitment to 
our servicemembers and veterans remains steadfast. We stand united 
regardless of our politics. Our veterans fought for our freedom, and we 
need to be there for them.
  When our servicemembers put their lives on the line to serve our 
country, there wasn't a waiting line. When they come home to the United 
States of America, when they need healthcare or they need a job or they 
need a house, there should never be a waiting line in the United States 
of America.
  We still have a great deal of work ahead of us to honor this 
commitment. Here is an example. Amie Muller of Woodbury, MN, enlisted 
in the Air Force in 1998. After two deployments to Balad, Iraq, where 
she was stationed next to one of the war's most notorious toxic burn 
pits, she returned home. Shortly afterward, she was diagnosed with 
pancreatic cancer at age 36, half the average age for this form of 
cancer.
  When Amie passed earlier this year, she left three small children and 
her loving husband Brian behind. Since then, I have gotten to know and 
work with Brian. He has made one thing clear to me: We can't let these 
toxic burn pits become another Agent Orange. So as part of Amie's 
legacy, we are working to create a Center of Excellence within the 
Department of Veterans Affairs to deal with the mounting evidence that 
thousands of veterans have gotten sick after being exposed to toxic 
substances burned in the large pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. This isn't 
a partisan issue, and I am very pleased to have as a cosponsor of my 
bill Republican colleague Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina. We 
have been working together to get this bill passed. We are very pleased 
it was in the National Defense Authorization Act that came out of the 
Senate.
  While our National Guard and Reserve component members often serve 
with their Active-Duty counterparts on the exact same missions, they 
are not always ensured the same compensation and benefits for their 
service. When they return home, our National Guard and reservists are 
often denied the education and healthcare benefits they counted on 
during their deployments. We need to close that loophole and make sure 
that members deployed on the same missions who take the same risks 
receive the same benefits.
  Just as we have made a commitment to serving our servicemembers, we 
have made a commitment to looking out for their families. Since 
September 11, 2001, the Minnesota National Guard soldiers and airmen 
have deployed more than 26,000 times. Actually the Red Bulls, one of 
our units, is one of the longest serving units in Iraq.
  That service can take a toll on families--especially kids. That is 
why it is important for students and teachers to know which students' 
parents are servicemembers so they can help make special accommodations 
like setting up Skype during the schoolday so a young girl can talk to 
her dad who is serving abroad. That is what happens for students whose 
parents are on Active Duty in the military but not for those whose 
parents are in the Guard or Reserves. That makes no sense. Some say it 
was just an error--some say maybe not. Whatever it is, we need to fix 
it. I am leading bipartisan legislation to make sure our Guard and 
Reserve Forces and their families are treated equally.
  When our veterans signed up to serve and defend our country, there 
wasn't a waiting line, as I noted. That is why, on this day tomorrow, 
we will be honoring them by telling them we believe they deserve the 
best.
  I was reminded of that a number of years ago when I greeted one of 
the World War II Honor Flights that was coming back filled with 
veterans from Minnesota who saw, maybe for the first time or the last 
time, the World War II Memorial. They had gotten up incredibly early in 
the morning, boarded a plane, spent the day, and flew back. There were 
hundreds and hundreds of family members waiting for them late at night 
in the airport terminal with balloons and signs with their names on 
them. They got off that flight on walkers and wheelchairs, and they 
came down to where the families were, tears running down their faces. 
It was an amazing sight to see.
  In typical Minnesota tradition, a polka band was playing by the 
luggage carrousel, and one of the older veterans, who I later found out 
was in his late eighties, asked me to dance.
  I said: Well, I would love to dance. Then the band stopped playing 
because it was at the end.
  Then he said: Oh, that is OK.
  I said: I am sorry. I will have to take a rain check.
  I don't know why I said that to someone his age, but that is what I 
said.
  Then he said: That is OK. I have a great voice.
  He started singing that Frankie Valli song, ``You're just too good to 
be true. Can't take my eyes off of you,'' and he danced me around and 
around that luggage carrousel.
  As I danced with that man, I thought to myself, this is how our 
veterans should be treated every day. They should be greeted with 
balloons and signs at the airport, and they should be dancing with 
their Senators by the luggage carrousel.
  That is the spirit we have to remember as we go forward into Veterans 
Day. We are reminded of the exceptional commitment and extraordinary 
service our democracy demands of all the brave men and women who have 
stepped forward to protect it. That same democracy demands that we 
fight for our servicemembers as they fought for us. As General Nash 
said, they were ``always there'' for us, and we must be there for them 
too.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Blunt). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.